Odisha Review December - 2015

Kalinga and the Transformation of Asoka

Manorama Tripathy

It is well known to every student of Indian history Asian Studies, and Patrick Olivelle, Janice that the great Mauryan ruler Asoka invaded Leoshko and Himanshu Prabha Ray brought out in the eighth year of his reign. The invasion a volume of essays on Asoka.2 Among the other led to deaths and destruction on a large scale. scholars who have studied Asoka in recent Such a massive human calamity seems to have decades, the names of Romila Thapar, K.R. been unprecedented in Indian history. According Norman, D. Devahuti, John S. Strong, S. Settar, to his thirteenth major rock edict, 100,000 people Harry Falk and Etienne Lamotte stand out. Earlier were killed, 150,000 were carried away as scholars included European pioneers like G. prisoners and many times that number perished. Buhler, Vincent Smith and T.W. Rhys-Davids and This catastrophe brought about a personal Indian luminaries like D.C. Sircar, B.M. Barua transformation in Asoka. His outlook towards and H.C. Raychaudhuri. society, politics and life underwent a deep change, and he became a keen follower of and It is rather surprising to note that none of an apostle of peace. According to Pali these writers have addressed a very fundamental from , the king transformed from question related to the invasion of Kalinga. The Chandasoka to Dhammasoka.1 invasion of Kalinga was not the first military There is no text book on Indian history adventure of Asoka. He had served as governor or history which fails to mention this event. of and Takshasila under his father Ever since the discovery of his edicts in the Bindusara, before becoming king. During this nineteenth century, Asoka and his Kalinga invasion tenure, he had led military campaigns on many have attracted the attention of historians, writers, occasions. It is also said that the throne of thinkers, scholars specializing on Buddhist studies did not rightfully belong to him. and religion, nationalists, politicians and others. According to the Pali chronicles, he usurped it Hundreds of books and thousands of articles have after killing his ninety-nine brothers. The figure of been written about Asoka in English, French, ninety-nine is clearly an exaggeration. But the German and several Indian languages. His edicts legend brings to light the fact that before his have been published on many occasions in various transformation in Kalinga, Asoka was certainly books, papers, journals and other periodicals. capable of carrying out aggression and did not Scholarly interest in Asoka has not subsided even shy away from killing. If this is true, what was today. In the year 2012 alone, Upinder Singh really unique about the invasion of Kalinga which published an article on Asoka in the journal South changed his heart?

17 December - 2015 Odisha Review

This question can be easily brushed aside in Odisha for the first time? How did it come into on the grounds that the death and destruction existence? What kinds of resources were required caused at Kalinga was far more colossal and for the rise of such a political structure? When devastating than the damages caused by his did Odisha transform from the Neolithic and previous wars. It involved the lives of lakhs of stage of evolution to the Iron Age? innocent people, as evident from the edicts. When did agricultural production begin to expand This answer is not really convincing. The in such a way that a strong political structure could figures mentioned in the inscription are grossly be established on the basis of the surplus exaggerated. They are meant to inspire awe in generated by agriculture ? None of these the readers and to highlight Asoka’s remorse questions are taken up for discussion in any of 3 through the literary device of hyperbole. The real the available text-books on the history of Odisha. reason behind the king’s repentance must have The Buddhist Tripitaka literature been different. mentions sixteen which were in Historians generally refer to Asoka’s existence in the sixth century BC. This list does invasion as the battle or war of Kalinga. It is not include Kalinga. Based on this we cannot conventionally dated to the year 261 BC. Many argue that formal political structures had not yet theories have been propounded within Odisha arisen in Odisha at that time. However, it clearly about the precise location of the battle, although indicates that even if they existed, they were not there is no clear evidence in the edicts about it. very powerful to be included in the list of the We have to ask a basic question here. Is there mahajanapadas. The representation of sixteen any evidence in the edicts to show that there was as mahajanapadas might have had a battle or war of Kalinga? Battles are generally its own political rationale behind it. We must treat fought between two rival parties. Each party may the reference to the mahajanapadas as a consist of a single power or a group of allies. Any representation rather than as a fact. It must also military encounter between the two rivals for a be noted that most of the sixteen mahajanapadas short duration at a specific location is a battle. If mentioned in the Tripitakas were not identified it is protracted and is carried out over a long as territories which can be clearly demarcated, period of time, it is a war. A war need not be but only as tribes. Perhaps the first ever reference fought in the same location. It can be fought at to Kalinga is found in the Baudhayana different places at various times or even Dharmasutra. Here it is stated that after visiting simultaneously in a number of locations. the Kalingas, a person must perform either the rite of punastoma or sarvaprishtha.4This is Who could have been the participant from becausethe Kalingas do not fall in Aryavarta.5It the Kalinga side in this so called war or battle? It is clear here that the name is mentioned in the is difficult to answer this question due to a lack of plural, which shows that the reference is not to a conclusive evidence in any of the existing sources. specific geographical territory, but to the location In any case, the question already presumes that of a tribe. Six other tribes are mentioned along there must have been a state or chiefdom in the with Kalinga, which are Arattas, Karaskaras, Kalinga region at the time of Asoka’s invasion, Pundras, Sauviras, Vangas and Pranunas. The date capable of engaging Asoka in a battle. Was there of the Baudhayana Dharmasutra is not clearly such a state or chiefdom at that time? known. But it is normally dated to the middle of In the existing text-books on Odisha the first millennium BC. It appears from the history, the question of state-formation is not Baudhayana Dharmasutra that a state or addressed. When did a state or chiefdom emerge chiefdom had still not evolved in Odisha at that

18 Odisha Review December - 2015 time. But certain tribal groups of the region, like A well-known urban centre of the period was the Kalingas, were already known to others. .7 It was a fortified settlement. Some The exact location and boundaries of historians have surmised that Sisupalgarh was the Kalinga at the time of Asoka’s invasion is not headquarters of . We do not know if known. However, it is clear that the frontiers of this is really true. A few other urban centres are the region kept changing from time to time also known from early historical Odisha. The according to the new political and economic recently discovered Radhanagar, near the conditions.6At the time of Asoka, it might have Buddhist site of Langudi on the banks of river been located between the and the Kimiria, seems to be another important early Rushikulya. and , where Asoka’s historical urban site. edicts are found, fall within this geographical area. On the whole the archaeological evidence In later centuries, the name of Kalinga was usually does not point to the presence of a state in Odisha reserved for the region consisting of the at that time. The figures of casualty given by Asoka and Gajapati districts of Odisha and the are extremely amplified. If 100,000 people killed, Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and 150,000 carried away as prisoners and many districts of Andhra. times that number who perished were soldiers, The oldest known political lineage of the figures can match those of the Magadhans Odisha is that of Kharavela, who belonged to the who according to Greek writers had a very large Mahameghavahana family of the Chedi clan. army. Had agriculture progressed in Odisha in the Kharavela’s famous is third century BC to such a great extent that it could found in the Udayagiri caves in . In support such a large number of soldiers? This is all fairness to the existing evidence, we must impossible to believe. It is not proven by any concede that no other political family is known to positive evidence. us from Odisha prior to the house to which The existing belief among historians that Kharavela belonged. there was a battle or war of Kalinga is also not All these seem to point to the possibility founded on any clear evidence. The available that a state society had not yet evolved in Odisha historical and archaeological records do not give during Asoka’s time. In fact, the line of Kharavela any indications about the existence of a state or also is not known to have ruled for a long time. chiefdom in Odisha in the third century BC. The Strong local states evolved in Odisha only many existing level of agricultural surplus is unlikely to centuries later with the Sailodbhavas and the have supported such a political establishment or Bhaumakaras. Before them, very few ruling a large army. Asoka himself does not speak in his families were known in Odisha. These include the edicts of any war or battle fought by him. Matharas and what historians like S.N. Rajaguru In the edicts of Asoka, the terms we come have called Pitrubhaktas and Srirama Kashyapas. across are vijita and avijita, which in their They were not powerful in any ways. Besides, respective contexts refer to regions that were their rule was limited only to southern Odisha. conquered and those that remained They exercised greater control over the northern unconquered.8There is no need to expect that a districts of and ruled from there. state existed in all the unconquered regions which At the time of Asoka, urban centres had the Mauryans conquered. We are speaking about not yet evolved in the Kalinga region in a big way. a period in history when state societies had not The process of urbanization had begun only in yet evolved in many parts of India. States and the fourth and third century BC on a small scale. formal political establishments do not exist in all

19 December - 2015 Odisha Review societies at all times. States evolve under certain real reasons behind Asoka’s great remorse and clear historical conditions. They are not natural his ultimate transformation. features found in all human societies. In all This is only an attempt to offer a likelihood, Kalinga was an avijita where a state reinterpretation of the Kalinga invasion of Asoka society had not yet evolved at the time of Asoka’s and his transformation to Buddhism. The invasion. conclusion drawn in this paper is not final, but We can now offer a surmise why the only tentative. But this assessment is certainly invasion of Kalinga changed Asoka’s heart while different from most of the other existing theories. all the bloodshed committed by him earlier had It offers fresh avenues and possibilities for not caused any such transformation in him. Asoka interpreting the edicts of Asoka. Our knowledge did not fight a war or battle of Kalinga. In his of the past can expand only through such desire to expand his empire, he carried out a reassessments. military campaign against Kalinga. This was an invasion of a region and not a war or a battle References : against an existing rival. The purpose of the 1. But it must be noted that the Pali chronicles do not mention Asoka’s invasion of Kalinga. invasion was to integrate the region with Magadha 2. Upinder Singh, “Governing the State and the Self: and introduce statecraft in a state where a state Political Philosophy and Practice in the Edicts of did not as yet exist. Such an enterprise was Asoka”, South Asian Studies, 28 (2), 2012, pp. possible only by subduing a people who had so 131-145, and Patrick Olivelle, Janice Leoshko and far not known any form of political subordination. Himanshu Prabha Ray (eds), Reimagining Asoka: For the first time in history, a people were to be Memory and History, Oxford University Press, subjected to formal political control through New Delhi, 2012. political representatives, taxation etc. This was 3. The most popular among these textbooks is K.C. not an internal development of Odisha society, Panigrahi, History of Orissa, Kitab Mahal, but imposed by an external invader. Obviously, , 1981. Other textbooks include Harekrushna Mahtab, The History of Orissa, Vol. such a situation could lead to unrest, resistance I (upto Bhanja Dynasty), revised edition, Dr. and bloodshed on a large scale. Harekrushna Mahtab Foundation, Cuttack, 2000 In all his earlier military campaigns, Asoka and N.K. Sahu, History of Orissa, Vol I: From the had fought against those who were familiar with Earliest Time upto 500 A.D., , Cuttack, 1964. statecraft, formal political structures and institutions 4. Baudhayana Dharmasutra, 1.1.2.14. like the army. Although Magadha enjoyed superior 5. Ibid., 1.1.2.9. military might for various reasons, these campaigns 6. Martin Brandtner, “Representations of Kalinga: were led against those who knew the terms of The Changing Image and Geography of a the game. Such was not the case with the people Historical Region”, in, pp.179-210. of Kalinga. The ruler of a state society was 7. B.B. Lal, “Sisupalgarh 1948: An Early Historical exercising his might over the people of a society Fort in Eastern India”, Ancient India, 5, pp. 62- where a state had not yet come into existence. 105. The inequality between Magadha and Kalinga 8. The edicts of Asoka are in Corpus Inscriptionum was not merely a military inequality or an inequality Indicarum, Vol. 1. of resources. There was also an inequality in terms of political institutions and other factors like world views, concepts, lifestyles, ethics and moralities. The grossly cruel nature of this unequal encounter Manorama Tripathy, Plot No.464(A), Nuasahi, and the resulting tragedy seem to have been the Nayapalli, Bhubaneswar-751012.

20